


Legend

by elvenelegy



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-10-08 05:26:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10379505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elvenelegy/pseuds/elvenelegy
Summary: Ezra Bridger used to be a legend, but after suffering visions of Maul at Chopper Base, the soldiers of the Rebellion have begun to consider him a threat. A response to a SWRRequests blog post! Preferably read directly after watching "Visions and Voices."





	

_Ezra Bridger._

These days, his name is whispered in solemn tones. He used to be a legend. They can’t stop us. We have a Jedi on our side.

_Ezra Bridger._

When you first heard his voice, you were barely 20 years old. You heard his broadcast from Lothal. You left home the following week to join the Rebellion. It was time you did something with your life. You hadn’t gotten into the Imperial Academy because you failed your written exams. You’re a helluva good pilot, but not good enough to excuse the marks you’d gotten. Oh, well. The rebels don’t care about things like that.

_Ezra Bridger._

A few months later, you came to Chopper Base. _He_ was there – fifteen or sixteen years old and just as inspiring as he’d been as a child’s voice on Lothal. _A Jedi. We have a Jedi._

_Ezra Bridger._

And then there had been that mission. You don’t know the details of it – no one does. But you know that Ezra Bridger wasn’t the same when he came back. You know that Commander Jarrus was blind and that Fulcrum was gone. And you didn’t have to be Force Sensitive to sense the anger the boy felt, and the tension between him and his Master.

_Ezra Bridger is -_

It took them over a year to work through it. You don’t know what changed, but one day they went off into the desert alone, and when they came back, it was like Ezra Bridger was a new man. _Jedi._ They don’t make any sense. By now, you’ve realized that it’s better to stay out of Bridger’s way. He’s just a boy – a moody, powerful boy. Still, you and your fellow soldiers swap the same old stories at night as you pass around a bottle of illegal booze. _You know he and his crew took down a Star Destroyer over Mustafar?_

_Ezra Bridger is -_

You were backed against a box of supplies, and his emerald blade hummed above you. The Mandalorian girl, Sabine Wren, tried to hold him back. He pushed her out of the way. Jarrus threw out his hands –

_Ezra, he’s not Maul! Look at him!_

You watched clarity come back into the boy’s eyes. He sheathed his lightsaber and staggered backwards. “I’m sorry!” he’d called, but you were already scrambling away. “You’re out of mind, kid!” you spat, and you meant it.

_Ezra Bridger is -_

What is Ezra Bridger? Not a hero. Not a monster, either. He collapsed on the durasteel floor. What’s happening to me? He was sobbing. Not a monster. A child. That night, your friends demanded to know what had happened. That Bridger kid is out of his mind. Not a legend anymore.

_Ezra Bridger is -_

They whisper as he passes. Rumors spread, and you know you started most of them. The whole base fears him. It could happen again. You never know when he might snap. You can still hear the hum of his blade, see the expression on his face. He would have killed you if his friends hadn’t intervened. He’s sick, you tell yourself, but you can shake the cold you’ve felt ever since you sat below his blade.

You’re willing to die fighting, but you’re not willing to die like this. You avoid his friends in the halls. This isn’t what you signed up for. This isn’t what he convinced you to sign up for.

_Ezra Bridger is…_

Your friends say he’s insane. Dangerous. Too powerful to be kept on the same rock as the rest of you. _They should send him away. His Master, too._ This is no place for a Jedi.

You wonder if he can hear you. If he can sense your distrust. Your flagging loyalty. You wonder, briefly, what it must feel like. What is it like for a Jedi to lose control? What is it like for a child to know he’s feared? Hated?

_Ezra Bridger was a legend._

But not anymore.


End file.
